Maurizio Sarri explains Ruben Loftus-Cheek omission from Chelsea squad

Maurizio Sarri has revealed that he omitted Ruben Loftus-Cheek from Chelsea's squad to face Arsenal as he wanted to maintain a balance on his bench.

The England international, who featured four times for the semi-finalists in Russia, was left out entirely for the Blues' 3-2 win over Arsenal on Saturday evening.

Loftus-Cheek was given 22 minutes from the bench against Huddersfield Town a week earlier, but Sarri preferred to have new signing Mateo Kovacic among his back-ups to face the Gunners.

"It depends on the position on the pitch," he told reporters. "I prefer to have on the bench two wingers, and only one midfielder. So it depends on this. Not any other situation.

"I needed on the bench one goalkeeper (Willy Caballero), one full-back (Davide Zappacosta), one centre-back (Andreas Christensen), maybe two midfielders and only one winger, but yesterday I preferred vice versa, two wingers (Eden Hazard, Victor Moses) and one midfielder (Kovacic)."

Speaking before this weekend's match, Loftus-Cheek vowed to fight for regular football at Stamford Bridge.